Improvement in clamps for raising buildings



" UNITED STATEs PATENT OFFICE.A

. 4 NATHANIEL IICKARD, OF ROWLEY, MASSACHUSETTS'. I

IMPROVEMENT IN CLAMPS FOR RAISING- BUILDINGS. i

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 38,501, dated May 12, 1863.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, NATHANIEL PIcKARD, of Rowley, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful device or clamp, to be used in connection with a jack-screw, for the purpose of raising buildings, Sto., from their foundations; and I do hereby declare the same to be fully described in the following specification, and represented in the accompanying drawings, making part of the same.

Figure 1 is a vertical and longitudinal section of my said clamp; Fig. 2, a side elevation ofthe same, and shows a jack-screw as applied thereto. Fig. 3 is an under side view of the Clamp.

It is a fact well known to engineers and others engaged in the moving of buildings or repairing the same that the raising up of such buildings, for the purpose of being either moved or that a basement may be added thereto, has been attended with a serious difficulty and involved a great amount of manual labor.

The method which has b:en practiced for the last centuryT not only requires a large part of the foundation or underpinning of a building to be removed in order to enable a jackscrew to be placed under the sill of the building, but a iirm foundation or bed to be made for the jack to rest on, and this in large buildings often requires some ten or more removals of diii'erent parts of the underpinning, and, of course, as many beds or foundations for the jack to rest upon to be made. This involves a great amount of labor, even where the buildings rest on good or solid abutments, but in many cases suchis the situation ofthe buildings, or so unstable the soil or ground on which they rest, that it is found almost impossible to effect the object desired.

Having been engaged (more or less) for upward of twenty-tive years in superintending the elevation and moving of buildings,and so great has been the difficulty I have experienced by the use of the old method above mentioned, that I have for a long time sought to iind some eifective remedy for the evil. After trying various plans, and resorting to many expedients, I have discovered one which I have found by practical experience completely obviates the disadvantages incident to the above-mentioned mode.

In carrying out my invention, I construct a bar, A, of iron (either cast or wrought) of about two and a half feet in length and two inches in thickness and from two to three inches in width. This bar may be of a rectangular form or may be slightly tapering on its extern al face, as shown in the drawings. On the lower internal part of the said bar a curved jaw, arm, or foot, B, is formed and extends therefrom at about a right angle. This foot I prefer to make concave on its upper surface, and with corru gations or serrations transversely thereon in order to cause it to hold firmly to the sill or part of the building to which it may be applied, and, furthermore, the curved foot is formed wedge shape, in order to enable it to readily enter the small hole made in the underpinning to receive it. The said barA is also furnished with a projection or arm, G, which extends horizontally therefrom as shown in Fi gs. 1 and 2, and has a socket, a, formed in its under surface for the reception of the head of the jack-screw. This arm should be made very strong, and should be of the same width as the bar A, and six or eight inches in length.

Having thus described my improved clamp, I will now describe the manner in which it is to be applied to a building and its operation in connection with a jack-screw. If We suppose the sills of the building to rest on either a brick or stone underpinning, we have only to make a small hole in such underpinning by simply removing two or three of the bricks or a stone next adjacent to the sill at the point where we desire to insert the foot of the clamp. After this is done, we next insert the foot into such hole and push it forward until the inner face of the bar A shall rest against the side of the building. We next place the jack-screw under the arm G, and turn the screw upward until lts head shall enter the chamber or socket a, made in the arm C, as shown in Fig. 3. Under these circumstances if power be applied to the screw so as to cause it to be turned upward the part of the building seized by the clamp Will be elevated.

By the employment of a clamp constructed as above set forth I am enabled to raise up an ordinary building, for the purpose of being either removed or repaired, in one-fourth of the time and with less than one-fourth of the manual labor usually employed. For in the old method the jack-screws are obliged to be brought directly under the'sill of the building My device or clamp, having its parts A B O constructed and arranged with respect to each other as described, and so as to operate in connection with a jack-screw in manner and for the purpose set forth.

' NATHL. PIGKARD.

Witnesses:

EDWARD SMITH, J AMES H. SMITH. 

